Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Thursday, July 22, 2010

This product is a fish scale remover. It comes in two different colours which are white and orange. It has two holes side by side for gripping and holding purposes and there is a flat edge at the bottom with jagged sides to go under the scales and remove them. It is quite straightforward to use but on first impression people might not know what it is.

ii) What are the design considerations when designing this product?

Some of the design considerations is that it has to be easy to use. I has to be simple. I has to be comfortable. It has to have a good design. It has to be usable for all ages.

iii) Would an elderly face difficulty using this product? If yes, what are the difficulties that the elderly would face?

After they find out how it works they would have no difficulty or danger.

What do you think can be done to improve on the design of the product to suit the elderly?

Maybe the performance of the object can be improved by having more jagged areas to scrape the scales of the fish. It could also be shaped like a fish so it is more obvious that it is to scrape of fish scales.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ergonomics is the law of designing a comfortable and safe workplace for a worker with everything the worker might need in his/her workplace.

2. What are the 5 aspects of Ergonomics?

The five aspects are:

Safety

Comfort

Ease of Use

Productivity/Performance

Aesthetics

3. For each aspects of Ergonomics, explain with an example of a product that is designed for the elderly, how the product meet that particular aspect of Ergonomics.

In Safety one of the things that curb the elderly away from danger is the hand rails on top of the bath tub. However simple it may be it really helps the elderly by not slipping on the slippery surface of the bath tub. All the elderly person has to do is to pull themselves out of the bath tub and then hold to get out. It would normally have a 7 cm diameter with a strong iron material. This very compatible with the water proof friction mat that people put on the floor of the bath tub. The small bumps on the mat give the elderly a grip on the slippery surface.

In Comfort cutlery that is designed to suit elderly that have problems eating. Some elderly have problems and this affects their eating ways. To help these elderly people some people have designed cutlery for each of these problems such as Arthritis and Mental Problems. This aids the elderly who have such problems to eat better than they used to.

In Ease of Use a walking stick is one of the things that represents it. When you see a walking stick you will immediately know how to use it. That is something that is helpful to the elderly as as the elderly grow older their level of comprehension decreases causing them to find what use to be easy activities hard. So making things such as walking sticks which are easy to understand and to use is the way to go.

In Productivity/Performance again a walking stick is an example. Even though it may just be a stick. It is productive in the sense that it achieves its purpose of helping the elderly to walk. It is also a long lasting object which shows that it has high performance. This gives the product a high overall rating.

In Aesthetics one of the things is to design of a room to look nice and suitable to the for elderly. If the elderly does not like the layout of the room or does not like the design he.she will not want to say there as it is not their preference. This will cause them to be unhappy. So in every room aesthetics is very important.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The second work place has less things cluttering the desk. It also has more mobile items which allows everything to be moved from place to place when needed. It also has designated places to keep items such as a keyboard, stationary and etc.. This is unlike the first one has many things that clutter the desk. There are too many things that are not needed on the desk. Almost everything is immobile and gives the worker no space to move. Everything is forced to fit into one place causing it to be very cramp.

2. Which workplace is preferred? State with reasons why one workplace is preferred over the other.

The second desk is preferred as it has very mobile things that can be pushed away to maximise space on the desk. There is only necessary items on the desk so that the desk is not cramped. There is also very interesting array of gadgets that can enable movement of generally immobile items.

3. What are the considerations that should be taken into account when designing a workplace that is suitable for the user?

The desk must have enough space with necessary things that would naturally be needed. Try to make the desk have hidden compartments hat can keep things. Make your desk mobile so that things can be moved around easily.

4. Why do you think that Ergonomics is important when designing?

It is important as it has a vital role in making your workplace comfortable and useful at the same time. It also makes it quite stylish.